Archive for the ‘CVS’ Category

Last week, I watched a video out of New York (which I can’t find now) about high lead content in reusable bags, including the ones sold at CVS and Walgreens. Read the report on WashingtonPost.com.

Even though the report said there is no immediate danger to consumers, there is concern that when the bags start to break down, flakes of lead-filled paint could get into the air in your home, car, etc. In the Texas heat, I imagine the paint on these bags probably breaks down quickly if the bags are left in the car.

After watching the video, I decided to throw out all the reusable bags that are made in China.

Extreme? Maybe, but having these bags in my house is not worth the possible risk to our health.

If you have the green CVS bags, you can take them back to CVS to get a refund per a post I read at IHeartCVS.com. Hold on to any others as more recalls may follow.

CVS Freebies Starting on Black Friday

Due to this being Thanksgiving week, Sunday’s CVS ad is good for the next four days. An after-Thanksgiving Day ad will be published on Thursday.

It looks like there will be thirteen items that will be free after Extra Bucks, with no coupons required. Visit IHeartCVS.com to see the list of toothpaste, lotion, hair products, candy, lip balm, breath freshener, in-ear headphones and universal remote control.

There are two items that will be free after Extra Bucks for the entire week (starting today). Get an 8 count Excedrin (limit 1) and a 4 count Advil (limit 1). Pay $0.99 each and receive $0.99 for each in Extra Bucks. Someone mentioned she received a $1.00/1 any size Excedrin CVS coupon at the Extra Bucks coupon printer, so be sure to scan your card before you shop.

If you receive the blue Val-pak envelope in the mail, be sure to open it and look for the CVS coupons inside. It’s the first time I have seen CVS coupons in their mailer. I don’t know if they will be available in all areas or if they will only be available to certain zip codes.

If you haven’t already snagged a free coupon from another blogger’s site for the new Yoplait Simply… Go-Gurt, here’s your chance to get one. The first 30 readers to complete the form will receive a coupon* in the mail for a free package. If you’re not one of the first 30, you can still download a $1.10/1 coupon.

I have not been able to find the new Simply… Go-Gurt yet, but I like that it does not include high fructose corn syrup (HFCS). We used to eat Yoplait’s regular yogurt frequently until we decided to give up HFCS, so I was glad to see Yoplait is not adding it to the Simply… Go-Gurt yogurt. There are also no artificial colors or flavors. It comes in two flavors, Strawberry and Mixed Berry.

Win a Prize Pack!
Want to win a Go-Gurt “Simplify Your Life” prize pack that includes a pocket Etch a Sketch, weekly planner and a seat back organizer? Just leave a comment below with which flavor of Simply… Go-Gurt you hope to try. I will select one winner from the comments below using Random.org on Wednesday, April 21 at 9PM Central. One comment per person, please.

*This coupon offer for free Simply… Go-Gurt is not valid in some states, including California, Idaho, Louisiana, Minnesota, New Jersey, Nevada, North Dakota and Tennessee.

Disclosure: I received a free coupon and a prize pack from Yoplait through MyBlogSpark in exchange for posting this information. The prize pack is the same one that I am giving away to one of my readers.

Answer a Medicare quiz on CVS.com and print a $5.00 off $30.00 CVS coupon. When you go to CVS.com, watch the rotating graphic in the center, top of the page and then go to the Medicare calculator (or click #4). You’ll see a link to the quiz at the bottom right. Answer a few questions and print your coupon.

I didn’t take a photo of everything I bought because I ended up just using extra care bucks that were about to expire. I purchased the 12 double roll packs of Charmin toilet paper for $3.99 after coupon and extra care buck ($1.00 per 12 pack – limit 3) and one pack of 8 AA batteries for the buy $15, get $5 extra care bucks promo. I also got two of the Halloween pumpkin carving tool and the nylon Halloween bag as part of the Halloween extra care buck promotions which end on Tuesday.

The 8AA Energizer batteries rang up for $8.99 even though they were listed on sale in the ad for $5.99, so I took them back and got $3.00 refunded. $8.99 is still listed on my card though, which means I can buy another pack for $5.99 (minus $1.00 coupon) and will probably get $5.00 extra care bucks back. So around $2.50 for an 8-pack of AA batteries…not the best price on batteries, but my stash from last year is running low.

Candy deal
If you buy $20 worth of Halloween candy, you will get $5.00 extra care bucks.

I had a CVS CRT for $2.00 off 2 bags of Hershey Kisses and there are $1.00/1 coupons in the 9/13 SS insert. They’re on sale for $3.00 each, so I paid $2.00 for 2 bags. I also bought two bags of Willy Wonka candy ($5.00 each) and two bags of Nestle Crunch ($3.00 each), and used four $1.00 printable coupons (2 for Nestle Crunch and 2 for Willy Wonka).

I paid $14 and received $5 extra care bucks, so $9.00 for six bags of candy. Not the best deal ever, but I’m stocked up for Halloween candy now and didn’t spend anything out of pocket (just used up extra care bucks).

My CVS had an Arm & Hammer toothpaste display near the cosmetics. It is a big, stand-alone box full of trial sizes of the Advance White toothpaste for $0.01 with CVS card. It’s a limit of 1 per transaction, while supplies last. I often have an extra care buck that is $0.01 more than the price of the item I want to buy, so this $0.01 filler is nice in case I get a cashier that doesn’t want to adjust the extra care buck. I don’t know how many stores carry it or how long it will be available, but look for it if you need a $0.01 filler or want to get an almost free trial sized toothpaste.
Get a list of CVS deals for this week at Money Saving Mom and Surviving the Stores.

I needed to roll several ECBs this week, but didn’t see much to do. I got the Vaseline lotion ($1.50 MM), the Reese’s 8ct candy ($0.33 after $0.55/1 – 8/23 SS – good through TODAY only), and the $0.33 caramel filler from the bucket on the counter. I used a $6.99 ECB and $0.16 cash. I received a $7.99 ECB.

I went out again later to spend ECBs. I didn’t take a photo, but here’s what I did:

We needed more Mederma (scar lotion), which retails for $18.99 at CVS. As you know, I hate to pay full price, so I found a $2.00/1 printable coupon from Mederma’s Web site and printed my $5/$25 CVS coupon from the flu quiz, mentioned here.

I also got Touch of Gray for Men and used the free coupon from the Dallas Morning News (expires 9/30) to get my transaction total to $25 before coupons.

I had a lot of extra care bucks that were set to expire on 9/15 and didn’t see a lot of rolling opportunities, so I used quite a few.

I spent less than $1.00 on a gift card and the rest with extra care bucks. I earned $13.98 in extra care bucks, will get $2.00 back for the lamp rebate, and “used” around $14.50 worth of extra care bucks. “Used” meaning I spent them and can’t roll them on a future trip to CVS.

Here’s what I got:

Listerine Total Care (3) – FREE after coupon and extra care bucksColgate Total Advanced toothpaste (1) – FREE after coupon and extra care bucksDyna-pep Energy Shots (2) – FREE after extra care bucksSchepps Milk (2) – $1.49 each after extra care bucksCVS Kettle Corn (1) – $0.49 (filler marked $1.00, but rang up less, so I had to throw in some nuts)CVS Nuts (1) – $0.99 (last minute filler due to Kettle Corn ringing up less and there were no more bags of popcorn. Should have just gotten the nuts!)Desk Lamp (1) – $3.74 (25% off + $2 Rebate by Mail that expires 9/30 so total cost will be $1.74)Topsy Turvy (1) – $2.49 (75% off) – I wanted to try this but didn’t want to pay full price. Will store for next year.Welch’s Fruit Snacks (4) – $1.45 each (50% off) – there are $1.00/2 coupons in the 8/30 RP but I didn’t have them with me and the CVS where I found them was too far to make it worth returning later with coupons.

I forgot to take my Almay manufacturer coupons. If you got the $3 CVS CRT and use a $1 manufacturer coupon, you can get some free or cheap Almay this week.

For the coupon match-ups and more deals at CVS this week, visit IHeartCVS.com.

Get a $1.00/1 coupon for Pillsbury Grands Refrigerated Biscuits. This should allow you to get a free package at some point before the coupon expires! Be sure to hit the back button on your browser to print a second coupon.

If you buy Activia yogurt anytime between 8/1 and 12/31/09, you can send in the UPC symbol, your receipt and this rebate form to Yoplait and get a coupon for free YoPlus (up to $3.03). Kroger has the Activia on sale for $1.88 this week. Use the $1.00/1 coupon from 7/26 SS, 8/2 SS or 8/30 SS to get it for $0.88.

Thanks to Morgan and Robyn for alerting me about this deal!

FREEBIES

Tiffany at CardStore.com emailed me about their participation in the ‘Hope is in the Cards’ Campaign’. From September 1-7, you can get one free personalized card from their Hope Collection. Add your own message and photos, and they will print and mail it to anyone you choose…worldwide… all for free!

The ‘Hope is in the Cards’ Campaign was started by small business owner Russ Haan to help lift the nation’s spirit by encouraging people to send 300 million greeting cards by mail. His goal is to spread optimism during our tough economic times by sending messages of encouragement to friends and loved ones during The Week of Hope, September 1-7, 2009.

Lauren emailed me about this Chick-fil-A freebie. Wear ANY sports-related apparel to your local Chick-fil-A restaurant on Labor Day (9/7) from 10:30 AM until close to celebrate the second-annual Chick-fil-A Kickoff football game, and they’ll give you a FREE Chick-fil-A Original Chicken Sandwich!

This year’s Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game will feature University of Alabama against Virginia Tech at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, and will be televised nationally at 8 PM (Eastern) on ABC.

Saw this one on a late night celebrity show (can’t remember which – it’s all background noise while I work, but I heard “free” and tuned in!). If you are a Madonna fan, you can get a free download of her video “Celebration” at iTunes. It’s for a limited time only and went up on 9/1.

Get 30 Free Swagbucks when you download and use the new Swagbucks toolbar. Every day in September, Swagbucks will post one Swagbuck code on the toolbar that you can redeem in your account. 45 Swagbucks will get you a $5 Amazon.com gift card. I have gotten $60 worth of Amazon.com gift cards since the beginning of the year.

Not yet a member? Sign up here and the download the toolbar. Use the toolbar to do Internet searches and you should get at least 1 Swagbuck a day depending on how often you search. Also, be sure to sign up for their newsletter and read it because there is usually a Swagbuck code at the bottom of the newsletter.

This is a good week to roll Extra Care Bucks or get started with the program!

I stopped by CVS Sunday and purchased the Glade candle, Duracell batteries, Irish Spring body wash, Softsoap body wash, Johnson & Johnson trial-sized first-aid kits (coupons expire 8/31!) and a small case of beach toys (75% off). I used a $4.00 off $20 coupon from the Readyfill coupon booklet (ask your pharmacist for one of these if you haven’t already!) and manufacturer coupons. I spent less than $2.00 cash and the rest by rolling Extra Care Bucks. And I received $15.99 in Extra Care Bucks back to use in the next month.

Irish Spring body wash (15-18 oz) – $0.99 – FREE
Price: $4.99
Coupons: $1.00/1 printable AND $1.00/1 CVS CRT (scan your card at the coupon scanner if you don’t already have this one). There was also a $2.00 printable a while back that expires soon. Use it now if you haven’t already!
Promotion: Buy 1 at $4.99, get $2.00 ECBs
Limit 1 (stated in the ad, but I bought both the Softsoap Nutriserums and Irish Spring body wash with my $2.00 printable coupons, and my receipt says I have not reached the limit yet)

* If you buy both the Sensodyne and the Aquafresh and use the $2.00 off $10 oral care coupon from the ReadyFill Coupon Booklet, you can get both for free. Even though the total doesn’t reach $10, it should work. Thanks Moneysavingmom!

Bounce Dryer Bar – $0.49
Price: $3.99
Coupon: $2.50 – Vocalpoint.com (sign up if you’re not a member!)
Promotion: Buy 1 at $3.99, get $1.00 ECB
Limit 2
Note: This is cheaper at Target if you combine it with the Target printable coupon!

Duracell Ultra Advanced Battery 4-packs – $1.24 each
Price: $3.99
Coupon: $1.50/1 – 8/2 PG (expires on 8/31!)
Promotion: Buy $15 worth of Duracell, get $5 ECBs – buy 4 packs, use 4 $1.50 coupons
Limit 1 stated in ad, but my receipt says I can do another transactionThis is not the best price as I have gotten batteries for a lot less. But if you need some, this is a good time to buy.